Beverage cooling apparatus



' L L. F'QPKY BEVERAGE COOLING APPARATUS Feb. 4,-1941.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 15. 1940 A 7 a a! J T. f 4 6 a A fl m IIH k uZ0075 1S. Pop/n; V

A iior'ney Feb. 4, 1941. L. 1. POPKY asvmuea cooum arm?! 2 Sheets-Sheet' 2 Filed Hay- 15, 1-940 I 2 r r a I I a r a an A tiorney PatentedFeb. 4 1941 UNITED STATES A PATENT .oi-"rlcs 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements inapparatus for cooling and dispensing beer and similar beverages, and hasfor its primary object to provide adispensing cabinet of a portablenature in which'the dispensingfaucet is mounted, the faucet beingconnected to the keg positioned in a room remotely disposed with respectto the cabinet and providing a mechanical cooling unit for circulatingair over a set of cooling coils through the cabinet as well as throughthe room in which the keg is positioned.

A further important object is to provide air ducts leading from thestorage room for the beer keg into the cabinet where the same issubjected to the cooling influence of the refrigerant coil and alsoproviding an air duct leading from the cabinet to the storage room fordelivering the cooled air to the latter and mounting a beer pipe from'the keg in the storage room to theiaucet insaid cold air duct tofurther lower the temperature of the beer before the same reaches thefaucet. i

A stili' further object is to provide an appara- 2 tus of this characterof simple and practical construction, which is 'emcient and reliable inperformance, relatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain inoperation and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the sameis intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein likenumerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which-- Figure 1 is anelevational view of the apparams with the' storage room shown insection,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the dispensing cabinet.Figure 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the cabinet,and r Figure 4 is a sectional view through the ducts connecting thestorage room with the cabinet, taken substantially on a line 4-i ofFigure 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention,the numeral 5 designates the cooling and dispensing cabinet generallywhich includes a pair of lower compartments 6 and i, an upper coilcompartment 8 and an ice-tray compartment 9. The cabinet 5 is ofportable construction suitable'ior supporting on the floor Iii of a roomand extending through the bottom ii of the cabinet is an air feed ductl2 and an air return duct l3, in

the present form of the invention these ducts extending downwardlythrough the floor l0 into a storage room ll which may be positionedbeneath the floor, or located in any other desired 5 position relativeto the cabinet. The portion of the ducts i2 and i3 extending between thefloor l0 and the room are enclosed in an insulation jacket I! ofsuitable construction.

Mounted in the chamber 6 is an air blower 10 I8 to the intake side ofwhich the duct I2 is connected, the blower being operated by the shaftI1 driven by the electric motor l8. Also operated by the shaft I1 is thecompressor i 9 of a time generally employed for use in a mechanicalrefrigerating unit, the motor and compressor being mounted on a suitablebase 20. The refrigerating unit includes the condenser i9 and the liquidreceiving chamber 20, the latter being mounted in the base 20, and allof the parts of 20 'the unit are connected in the system substantiallyas illustrated. In the present form of the invention the motor. andcompressor are shown positioned outwardly of the cabinet 5, but it willbe understood that this mechanism may also 25 be mounted in thecompartment of the cabinet,

if desired.

The feedv pipe 2| leading from the compressor extends upwardly into thecompartment 8 for connection with the refrigerant coil 22, the re- 30turn pipe leading from the coil to the compressor being designated at23. A branch pipe 24 leads from the feed pipe 2! to the coil 25 in theice cube compartment 9, the return line from the ice cube coil beingdesignated at 26. An expan- 35 sion valve 21 of conventionalconstruction may be mounted in the pipe 2i beyond the branch 24 and a.similar valve may also be mounted in said branch. The expansion valve 21includes the usual thermostat control attached to the coil 22 asindicated at- 21'.

Positioned upright in one end of the compartment 8 is a substantiallyrectangular-shaped head 28 and a similar head 29 is also positioned in45 the compartment at a relative opposite end thereof. The heads 28 and29 are positioned at opposite ends of the coil 22 and the opposedvertical walls of. the heads are formed with openings 30, the head 28being connected with the dis- 50 charge end of the blower by means of aduct 3|. The return duct I3 is connected to the head 29 and accordingly,it will be apparent that air is drawn into the duct l2 from the room Hiand blown through the head 28across the coils 22 55 and is received intothe head 29 where the cool air is returned to the room ll.

Extending longitudinally through the duct l3 as well as through the head29 is the beer pipe- -32 having its upper end connected to thedispensing faucet 33 and havingits lower end extending outwardly of thelower end of the duct 13 into the room I4 and suitably attached to thebeer keg 34. The compressed air pipe for the keg is deslgnated at 35.

It will be apparent from the'foregoing that air will be circulated iromthe room it into the compartment 8 for cooling by the refrigerant coil22 and the cold air returned to the room as indicated by the arrows.Accordingly, the beer pipe 32 which extends entirely throughout the coldair duct l3 will be cooled by the air passing therethrough so that thetemperature of the beer passing through the pipe will be graduallylowered as the same travels upwardly toward the faucet 33. I

The compartment I has open communication with the ice cube compartment9, as shown to advantage in Figure 2 of the drawings, and

accordingly, the cool air from the ice compartment will be permitted toenter the compartment I for cooling bottled beverages or other Havingthus described the invention, what 1' claim is-- 1. In a beveragecooling and dispensing apparatus, a storage room having a beveragecontainer positioned therein; a portable dispensing cabinet remotelypositioned with respect to said room, a pair of air ducts connecting theroom with the cabinet. a cooling coil positioned in the cabinet, 9. pairof heads positioned in the cabinet at opposite ends of the coil andhaving perforated opposed faces, said heads having communication withthe respective ducts, means for circulating air through the room and thecabinet by way of said ducts, and a beer discharge pipe leading from thecontainer through one of said ducts.

2. In a beverage cooling and dispensing apparatus', a room having abeverage container positioned therein, a portable cooling and dispensingcabinet remotely positioned with respect to said room, a pair of airducts providing communication between the room and the cabinet, a blowerconnected to one of said ducts adapted for drawing air from the roominto the cabinet and for forcing the air from the cabinet to the roomthrough the other of said ducts, a cooling coil positioned in thecabinet, a pair of heads positioned at opposite ends of the 'coil andconnected to the respective ducts, said heads having apertures in theiropposed faces, the head connected to said last named duct being adaptedto receive cool air from the cabinet after passing over said coil and abeer pipe leading from the container upwardly through said last namedduct and through the head attached thereto.

3. A beverage cooling anddispensing cabinet including a plurality ofcompartments, air circulation means in one compartment, a refrigerantcoil in another compartment, said last named compartment having airducts communicating" scri

